


In August Company

by yaodai



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Sakumo Lives, Sick Fic, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Third Shinobi War, kakashi the lil shit, not completely useless hiruzen, orochimaru is so done, sakumo is so very sorry, stealthy timetravel gone wrong, this is not a crack, tw: Mentions of Suicide, tw: eye trauma, tw: head trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-02-26 17:13:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18721435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yaodai/pseuds/yaodai
Summary: Hatake Sakumo got interrupted while trying to save his honor, so he grabbed a frying pan.





	1. Chapter 1

In August Company

 

Chapter 1

 

Hatake Sakumo admired the blade of his wakizashi,  glinting brightly in the soon.  
It wasn't even noon yet, but the sun was already  strong, almost blinding as it drowned the world in the hot summer light.

Kakashi was out in a mission today, finally able to enjoy learning from someone equally as smart as he was.  
Sakumo found it to be conforming, even if the fact he wasn't enough stung a bit.

The outside of the house was taken over by weed some time ago and Sakumo was glad for that; the buzz of insects moving from one wild flower to another, the soft shift of the grass, flutter of the bird winds, it all was killing the awful silence that seemed to be surrounding Sakumo, getting tighter and tighter.

It was so peaceful here, in the Hatake grounds, squeezed on the border of the Nara forest, way on the outskirts of the village, but not close enough to the wall for the shadows to reach the house.  
However the peace was an just an illusion.

Outside the high walls, there was a war going on. There was fire and screams and explosions, metallic clash of blades and the nauseous smell of blood and smoke was covering everything and all of this tasted like guilt because if only-

Sakumo closed his eyes and weighted the weapon in his hands.

Some things couldn't be erased, not even with blood, but at least it would cut open the cocoon of silence that started surrounding Kakashi.  
Sakumo couldn't do much, couldn't turn the time and do the right thing but at least he could free Kakashi before the silence will suffocate him.

Today would be a good time.  
Kakashi wouldn't be back until the late evening - Sakumo asked his sensei to pick up time-consuming missions and the man agreed that keeping the boy occupied for as long as possible was a good idea.

He heard that the Sannin were recalled to the village too - well, the two that weren't somewhere out there on the long term mission - which meant he would be recalled to the front lines some time today.  
Someone would surely come, to see why he hadn't responded to the missive.

It was all going to be alright.

The wakizashi was heavy in his hand, the blade was hard against his stomach, a little push away from breaking the skin.

Sakumo took a deep breath-

A flash of pain appeared out of nowhere and the blade flew out of his hand and hit the ground meters away, rolling all the way towards the should with a clang of metal.

Enemy in Konoha?!

Sakumo bounced back onto his feet, startled by the attack taking place at the seemingly safe ground, hand pulsating with pain - at least one finger broken.    
He threw himself at the assailant, not wanting to give them time to perform whatever jutsu they were going to use. He punched with his good hand but it was avoided, his kick was blocked but it also got him nice and close and Sakumo took the chance to smash the enemy with his head.

Clever bastard ducked aside and rolled, a flurry of black and white motion, getting close to-

"Oh no you don't!" Sakumo threw himself at the enemy, body-slamming into him before his hand reached the dropped blade.

They've smashed into the shouji, in a rain of thin, splinters and surrounded by the tearing noise as the old paper gave out under their weight and stopped only after bumping into the kitchen cabinets with a loud clang of protesting pottery.

The enemy kicked him off, aiming right for the kidneys and his lower stomach, brutally efficient and fast - definitely a Jonin, he needed to deal with this fast -

Sakumo jumped back up, hand reaching back and searching, the other one already blocking a hit.

His fingers found the handle of a pan and he took a swing, using all the strength he can muster, using a low angle that he knew was hard to see from the position they were in.  
Heavy iron made contact with a satisfying thud, the force of the impact running through his entire hand like a shiver.

The enemy made a wobbly step back, both hands holding onto his face.

And then, suddenly, they were surrounded by the ANBU. High, muscular men, all of them roughly of the same posture, with lookalike masks.

"What the-?!" Sakumo gasped, breathing heavily.

Where the hell were they up until now? Were they waiting for him to do the job?  
The group was ridiculously big too. At least four were surrounding him, while another three crowded the area around the enemy nin.

"Jounin Hatake, your cooperation is appreciated," one of the ANBU said, porcelain mask just like the others. They all were impossible to tell apart.

"My coo- what?"

He had questions he wanted to ask, so many about how did they know, how long did they were here, who was the enemy, but then the front doors creaked as they were shifted open.

"Dad?"

Sakumo whipped around, heart hammering in his chest, stomach dropping like it was filled with lead.

The ANBU, along with their prisoner, disappeared in a flurry of leaves.

Kakashi slowly walked in, the sandals already off and nicely set together in the genkan and scowled at the sight of the damage.

"What did you do?" he asked with all the seriousness a five year old could muster.

"I was ah-" his brain felt empty and too full all at once, all thoughts mixed in together an unfinished, because of got, if this didn't happen, if the day was peaceful, then his son would walk right into- "I decided to shift the walls around for a bit and things went, uh... not well. As you can see. But it was old and I guess something was in the wood because it fell apart? See?"

Kakashi looked completely unimpressed with him babbling.

"Whatever. Just... clean up after yourself."

He turned around on his heel and left, stopping for a short moment to put back on his sandals.

Sakumo stood there for a minute or two, waiting for the boy to get far away enough, before he slid down onto the floor, all strength gone and limbs feeling like they've turned into overcooked noodles.

"Oh shit," he whispered quietly, sitting in the pile of torn paper and broken  wood, staring at the pleasantly sunny spot where he was supposed to end everything. "Oh shit."

He would've found him, his little boy would've found him and when the blood was still hot and fresh, possibly even when the last breath was still escaping him.

What an unfair, cruel punishment it would be!  
Sakumo couldn't even imagine.  
(only he could and it was even more horrific.)

He needed to... he needed to calm down and breathe, deeply and slowly, and he needed to think. He needed to think a lot.

Why the ANBU didn't ask him to accompany them, even if just to tell what happened and what he learned about the skills of the assailant?  
Why were so many ANBU so close to his house anyway?  
(and why none of them reacted in any way when he pushed a blade against his own stomach?)

Sakumo closed his eyes.

He needed to start from the beginning.

It was an odd attack, considering he was literally going to kill himself. The enemy could've just waited instead of kicking the weapon out of his hand. A real dumbass.  
Which was not impossible, because someone who couldn't read a situation like that wouldn't be able to sneak into a shinobi village, even during times of peace.

Who was the idiot?  
He tried to recall a hitai-ate, but he didn't remember seeing any. Not a complete dumbass then.  
What he remember was just strong contrast between black and white.

The enemy was wearing a yukata instead of an uniform of any sort. A smart decision when one didn't want to catch suspicious eyes, especially during the summer season, but when it came to fighting... even the Hyuuga heavily modified their traditional outfits to make it easier to move around.

He remembered black hair smacking him in the face, long and loose, spilling on the floor when they trashed, filling the air with strong smell of sandalwood, mint and... thyme? pine? It was fresh and unusual and definitely not something a shinobi would douse themselves in, unless as a dare or to challenge enemies to come and try.

Not many were crazy enough to do so.

Not many that he knew and the smell was familiar.

Familiar... just like the long black hair, silky and shiny and vain, and the too white skin-

Sakumo gasped in shock.

He- There was a possibility-

He was fairly sure that he decked Orochimaru in the head with a frying pan.

He whimpered and curled his legs up, because he needed to hide from the world and what was better to help with that than a fetal position?  
He decked a sannin in the head, a sannin that was a precious resource to Konoha even in times of peace, because he was young and powerful and famous.  
And he, Sakumo, the local disgrace, decked him as hard as he could. In the head.

He... he probably should just stay home and wait. The Hokage would surely want to hear an explanation for all this mess. It was a matter of the few next hours, Sakumo was sure.  
In the meanwhile... there was some cleaning up to do.

Kakashi didn't need to know anything. He shouldn't learn of any of it, ever.

 

xxx

 

A day had passed and nobody showed up. No ANBU, no angry Orochimaru. He wasn't summoned to the ANBU HQ or the Hokage Tower either.

At the dawn on the second day Sakumo was absolutely done with waiting for the consequences.

He ventured out of the house. He had some shopping to do anyway, Kakashi needed to eat after all. It gave him a nice excuse to learn what was going on.  
While people still refused to talk to him more than it was absolutely necessary, Sakumo was still able to simply listen on the conversations, filtering the latest gossip.

He expected if not scorn for damaging a Sannin then at the very least the whole village buzzing with theories and ideas about how their precious famous shinobi got so damaged while behind the supposedly safe walls.

And there was… nothing.

Was it… kept under the wraps? Whateven for?

Sakumo grit his teeth and made a decision.  
He needed to talk to Orochimaru. He didn't know exactly what he wanted to say - to explain what happened, to tell him how sorry he was? All he knew that he absolutely needed to see him.

The small house on the Sarutobi clan grounds was empty and the windows were closed shut.  
Sakumo couldn't hear anything from the inside. He couldn't even see any signs of activity nearby the building - it was like no one visited this place and for longer than three days.

Was he already send on a mission?

That… wasn't entirely impossible, but the Third was careful to not worn out his best fighters, fully aware how just one of the sannin was able to turn the tide of the battle.

But if Orochimaru wasn't home, and the village wasn't buzzing with gossip about his injury - so not in the hospital either - then where was he?

 

xxx

 

“I haven't expected you to visit,” the Hokage said, hovering over the piles of documents and reports, his pipe laying forgotten on the edge of the desk with a thin line of smoke still escaping it.

“Thank you for your time,” Sakumo bowed deeply. “I know there are way more important things than listening to me.”

He was surprised that the Hokage decided to let him in in the first place. And so soon to! Despite all Sakumo had done, despite the war, the Hokage still found time for him.

“You're not a bother, dear friend,” Hiruzen looked up with a soft, sad smile. “But I need to ask you to be patient. I know you want to join the fight but right now… the mood isn't right for you to rejoin our forces.”

“This is…” Sakumo blinked. So this is why he wasn't recalled. People still didn't want to work with him, still didn't want to fight alongside him… he perished the thought. “I have another request, my Hokage. I need to know what happened with Orochimaru and where to find him.”

“Orochimaru?” The Hokage blinked in surprise. “Something happened to him?”

He suddenly felt cold, like the temperature dropped several degrees in an instant.  
The question was innocent, but the sheer wrongness he felt in the air…

“Two days ago there was an incident,” Sakumo started to explain. His mouths were dry, lips chapped, throat squeezed by some invisible force. “At my place. I've… fought against Orochimaru due to an misunderstanding and accidentally managed to hurt him. I wanted to say how sorry I am, but I couldn't find him anywhere.”

“This is odd,” Hiruzen furrowed his brow. “Because I didn't know Orochimaru was back in the village.”

“That's…!” Sakumo gasped. “That should be impossible!”

“ I see you understand my position,” the Hokage said carefully. “You are certain that it was Orochimaru?”

“Absolutely,” Sakumo nodded.

He spend days playing the whole thing over and over in his mind and with every passing hour he was more certain that the mysterious assailant was Orochimaru.

“When I hurt him, ANBU showed up, several of them.”

“Now, this is hard to believe. My ANBU have much better things to do than to interfere in the brawls between my jonin.”

“They were there, I swear! I wouldn't lie about it! But then my son- and when I turned back, they were gone, along with Orochimaru.”

The Hokage looked at him for a few seconds and it felt like he was looking through him, seeing everything, even what Sakumo wanted to hide.

“Well then,” he finally said, standing up. “I am most curious just what my ANBU think it's doing and why I haven't hear about this situation two days ago. Come with me.”

“My Lord?”

“We are going to visit the headquarters. Either Orochimaru is somewhere in there for whatever reason, or we are going to find someone who knows what happened.”

“And if not?”

“Then you were clearly lying and will serve there as a janitor for wasting my time.”

Sakumo wasn't sure if the man was serious or it was supposed to be a joke. Maybe both.  
What was important was the fact that they were moving, that something was finally happening.

He followed the Hokage like a lost puppy. The man still had an aura of power, despite the fact that at this point his hair was more salt than pepper and the age was stealthily stealing muscles and mass off of him.

The ANBU headquarters weren't placed far from the Hokage Tower; just a ridiculous amount of steps all the way up the mountain.  
For a civilian, it surely would be a tiring trip. For a shinobi it was just a minute of chakra-laced jumps or an one, powerful shunshin.

As the Hokage Tower looked over the village, the ANBU headquarters looked over the Tower. However while the Tower was visible, a landmark of Konoha just as recognizable as the Hokage Monument, the headquarters were made to not catch attention - the ANBU we're to work from the shadows, unseen and the building was similar.

On the outside.

Inside, it was a twisted labyrinth of narrow corridors and stairs, biting deep into the heart of the mountain, way under the ground.  
It was utilitarian to the extreme, just bare walls and sharp electric light.  
Every corridor looked exactly the same, every door were missing any signs that would tell what was on the other side but the Hokage walked through without a single moment of doubt.

Sakumo followed, tension burning like acid in the pit of his stomach.

The ANBU Captain was standing at attention next to the desk before the doors to what looked like an office were even fully opened, stack of papers dangerously swaying on the side of the table.

“My Lord…!”

“Why,” the Hokage asked slowly, but everyone could tell there was boiling rage hiding right behind the calm demeanor. “Is my student in one of your cells?”

“My Lord you… you have ordered it.” The Bear Mask was as emotionless as they could be, but there was a noticeable confusion in the voice of the man. Not something he was expected to hear in a voice of an elite assassin.

On the other hand Sakumo would be distressed too if a superior officer barged into his space like this and demanded answers.

“I've definitely did not such thing,” the Hokage said. “As a matter of fact I've learned about the situation only a few minutes ago. But tell me, what happened from your perspective.”

The ANBU nodded.

“Two days ago jounin Orochimaru was apprehended after breaking into a house of another Konoha shinobi and attacking them unprovoked,” he said. “The team of ANBU responsible for the intervention received an order to put jounin Orochimaru in one of the holding cells and wait for further instructions.”

“And who gave that order?”

“Well, you did, my Lord. There was your seal on the scroll with orders. If you wish, I can…”

“Later. Right now I want to see my student. Maybe he has some answers.”

“I am terribly sorry for such miscommunication,” the ANBU said. “I'll make sure-”

“Later,” he cut him out.

“Of course,” the ANBU bowed.

He didn't really need to lead the way.

The moment they entered the bottom layer of the HQ where the cells were located Sakumo could tell they were on the right track.

It probably should be completely normal to smell blood and sick down here, but for some reason, Sakumo felt his guys twisting painfully.  
Something bad was going to happen, something bad did already happen, he could tell, he could smell it.

“How did you…?” The ANBU asked and Sakumo was glad the man had keys because otherwise he would claw the doors open, thick metal or not.

The doors creaked open and Sakumo rushed inside, ignoring the darkness, the horrible smell, the ANBU and the Hokage.  
Because there was a person lying face down on the cold concrete floor, surrounded by the mess of black hair.

“Shit,” Sakumo groaned, kneeling down by the person. With a corner of his eye he noticed the metal of a pair of handcuffs reflecting light.

Carefully, he reached out and moved the person - Orochimaru - on the side and cursed again.

He looked… half of his face was covered with dried up blood, swollen and bruised, his one visible eye was glassy and unfocused, mouth half-opened, with flakes of dried up vomit peeling off his skin.

Shit, he hit him really hard, back then when he didn't know who he was fighting and he definitely concussed Orochimaru - if not broke his bones.  
And it was two days ago and then he was taken by the ANBU, and nobody knew anything!  
He wasn't even… he needed to go to the hospital, desperately so.

Sakumo picked him up, wincing as Orochimaru made a sound - throaty and painful groan, barely audible but making it feel like the world was breaking apart at the same time.

Hospital, Sakumo decided, not waiting for the Hokage to react in any way.

Moment later he was halfway through Konoha, entering the hospital through the window in the doctor's office.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 

The sun was slowly crawling through the sky, but Sakumo didn't notice as it slowly painted clouds in pinks and reds, too crushed under the weight of guilt to really pay attention.  
He stuffed himself into the small corner by the window, not wanting to get in the way of the personnel rushing back and forth.

The hospital was overcrowded, even when not counting the civilians stuffed on the ground level and waiting for treatment for hours - during the wartime the shinobi were prioritized over the other citizens.  
Which was probably lucky, because Orochimaru, even unconscious and covered in his own filch still was able to pull a rank and get on the operation table immediately.

All he knew that the medics were still working on Orochimaru and that none of this would've happen if he just wasn't so stupid.  
And that it was already taking an eternity.  
Shouldn’t medic-nin work faster than that? Or did something went wrong and-

“Hatake,” the Hokage was there, standing over him, blocking the sun.

He looked tired and ten years older than in the morning.

“I need to know what happened.”

“I thought the ANBU delivered their report,” Sakumo said bitterly.

Hiruzen’s eyes narrowed.

“Yes, they did. Now I want to hear your take on the events.”

Sakumo opened his mouth, but no sound came.

What was he even supposed to say?

“I… I'm sorry. It's all my fault.”

“If I hadn't… he attacked me, because he wanted to stop me and then it all went wrong and I'm just so sorry.”

“He wanted to stop you,” the Hokage repeated after him.

Sakumo bit his lip.

He avoided telling the truth. He lied to Kakashi, because the boy didn’t deserve to know how close he got to walking into a room filled with blood, then he didn’t tell the ANBU who apprehended Orochimaru what had happened and when he talked with the Hokage for the first time somehow he managed to not say a thing.

The temptation was strong, to not say anything, to keep this ugly dark thing a secret.

“When Orochimaru attacked me, I was about to-” he started, but then there were no words. What was he even supposed to say? That he was trying to save Kakashi from his dishonor? That he was erasing spilled blood with his own?

Sakumo couldn’t even recall what he was thinking.

“He saved my life,” he finally made his pick. “Probably panicked, considered what he saw and rushed to kick the weapon out of my hand before I did it.”

The Hokage listened to him in silence, red and white robes looked like someone set them on fire in the sharp, orange light of the setting sun.

“I wasn’t thinking and just reacted,” Sakumo continued explaining. “I’ve recognized who he was only after I had the time to gather my mind, but by then…”

He shook his head and looked down, unable to withstand the weight of the gaze of the Hokage.

“I was trying to do the right thing, you know. For Kakashi, for Konoha.. But all I’ve managed to do was bring even more misfortune.”

There were other people in the hospital, Sakumo knew it.  
There were voices carried through the corridors, screams of the wounded, shouts of the staff, people begging for help, for attention, but all that he could hear was heavy, ringing silence.

The Hokage was still standing over him, unmoving like a mountain, blocking the sun, his shadow sharp and dark, covering Sakumo like a blanket.

“I have received another report,” the man stated, tone of his voice odd enough to make Sakumo’s eyes snap back up. Sarutobi’s face was shinobi-blank and stern, impossible to read.

“Apparently a group of intruders managed to infiltrate the ANBU. They were apprehended not long after your fight.”

“Intruders?” Sakumo gasped. “Enemy shinobi-?”

Did Iwa somehow managed to not only get in, but so deep into Konoha already? Or was it someone else?  
Sakumo shuddered with a dread, thoughts running in several different direction at once, chaotic and fluttering like moths by the flame.  
Why was he being told this?

The Hokage grimaced.

“Their bodies got destroyed during the right with the real ANBU to the point it was impossible to recognize them,” he said. “Or so I was told. “

Sakumo licked his lips, but his mouth were so dry it didn’t help any.

Why was he being told these things?

“I fear something evil managed to creep into Konoha,” the Hokage said. “I need to find it and burn it away, but before I manage to do so, I need people who are not infected by that darkness.”

“My life is in your hand, my Lord!” Sakumo bowed deeply, thoughts still racing.

The words were cryptic, they could mean anything, they could mean that wasn’t an enemy nin that slid through their defenses but something else, something much more sinister.  
The ANBU, they were supposed to be the most loyal, they were supposed to-

The doors creaked, startling the thoughts out of Sakumo’s head and making him jump up, as if he was still a green Genin instead of a seasoned shinobi.  
Nobody paid attention to him failing at keeping his emotions in check.

The medic who opened the doors straightened at the sight of the Hokage and the man himself just pushed through the man, right into the room.

Sakumo, unable to fight against his own morbid curiosity used the chance to follow up, before the medic managed to gather his wits.  
He was sure he was ready for anything.  
A punch right in the face, a vicious ninjutsu, killing intent pushing him to his very knees, but…

The room was eerily quiet. Orochimaru was lying on the operating table, looking more like a broken doll, bright electric light mercilessly baring all traces of damage for them to see. The dark shadows under his eyes, the vividly red splashes of blood covering the surgical equipment, dark sets of complicated sealing patterns crawling around the table.

However the most horrific of it all, was the stillness.

"Why is he unconscious?" the Hokage asked looking at the bed with a frown on his face. "Concussions happen all the time during training."

"Yes," the medic said with a slow, deep exhale. "However the victims of training accidents receive help almost immediately, which makes it easy to heal."

Sakumo winced.

"On the other hand here I have a man who didn't receive any help for over forty hours and who was slowly hemorgatting into his brain," the medic mercilessly continued, his green eyes as unreadable as any Yamanaka could get. "He's alive only because three out of his cranial bones were broken severely enough to allow some leakage."

The Hokage's frown deepened.

"What is his prognosis?"

"Well, he's going to live," the medic replied. "We've done all we could at the moment to remove all the excess fluid and to reduce the swelling, we've set the broken bones and we're hydrating him. Maybe if Tsunade was here... but without her all we can do is wait."

"...and when...?" Sakumo asked quietly.

"It's hard to tell," the medic admitted. "We also don't know yet if there are gonig to be any other consequences."

"What should we expect?"

"I really don't know," the medic sighed. "It could be nothing. Or it could be a debilitating injury. Hell, it's going to be for awhile anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Even if he wakes up soon, he's going to need a lot of rest and a period of time to get used to reduced field of vision."

Oh no, Sakumo thought, terror spilling in his gut like ice.Oh no, no,no!  
He crippled Orochimaru, he took away his sight and there were even more horrible possibilities, still waiting to rear their ugly heads.  
He could be- his brain could be-

“Lord Hokage, with all due respect, the operating room isn’t a place where we should have this conversation,” the medic pointed out, shooing them away in the nicest way possible.

“You’re right,” the Hokage sighed.

xxx

 

Orochimaru didn't look any better lying in the hospital bed.

Not only the white sheets weren't doing him any favors, the bruising peeking from under the bandages looked even nastier than it was before, so dark it looked almost black, surrounded by red, swollen skin.  
Someone brushed the dirt out of his hair and braided them to keep it away from the thick layer of bandages that was covering half of his face.  
There was a cast on his left wrist and an IV attached to his other hand and Sakumo couldn't stop himself from staring.

This was all just so wrong!

At least they let him sit here, deciding it was safer to keep a jonin nearby, just in case.

“It's impossible to tell what's going to happen when he wakes up,” the medic nin said, the same dark skinned Yamanaka that answered his questions before. “He might be confused, or aggressive or… we really can't tell what's going to happen until he wakes up.”

Sakumo wasn't sure how exactly he ended up on the so called babysitting duty in the hospital, but he didn't mind it.  
It was definitely better than sitting at home and staring at the wall - or the blade - and worrying.  
Here, he could see Orochimaru, how the bruising on his face slowly shifted through colors. He could see him breathe, even if looking down at the still unconscious man was squeezing his gut with guilt.

Two days later he noticed a small twitch.

His eyelid fluttered, Sakumo was sure of it! Orochimaru was waking up and he should-

Sakumo wasn't sure what he should do.  
Get out there and call a doctor?  
But the Hokage told him to keep Orochimaru safe, most probably from the people who threw him into that horrible cell in the first place, so leaving the man alone was a bad idea.

Orochimaru's eyelid fluttered again and finally cracked open.

Sakumo swallowed a gasp.

He knew that unconscious people sometimes opened their eyes and it didn't mean that they were waking up.  
Still, he sucked in his breath and observed as the yellow eye slowly moved back and forth.  
It almost looked like Orochimaru was slowly taking in his surrounding-

"Oh hi," the yellow eye zeroed on Sakumo. "'ur not dead. 's good."

His speech was so slurry Sakumo barely could tell apart the words, but oh holy shit, Orochimaru was conscious enough to put a sentence together and to recognize him and he really should do something, but he hadn't the slightest idea what.

Orochimaru made a small sound and tried to push himself up on the bed.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Sakumo jumped towards  him before anything bad happened and forced Orochimaru back down into the pillow. "You definitely shouldn't be doing that!"

He received a very confused noise in response.

At least Orochimaru wasn't fighting him, which was good.

"Not getting up, alright?"

There was another sound that could be taken as a confirmation, so Sakumo carefully let go and made a single step away, ready to react to anything.

Orochimaru did not get up again.  
Instead, he carefully traced the IV attached to his arm and then patted around the healthy side of his face, where the end of tube was taped to.

"I think this one goes into your stomach," Sakumo said, hoping Orochimaru wouldn't get the stupid idea to yank at it. "They needed to put some food in you somehow."

Orochimaru completely ignored him and continued to  explore.

"Ow," he winced when his fingers found the edge of the bandages.

"Uh, yeah, careful with that!" Sakumo said quickly, not sure if he should grab Orochimaru and move his hand away or just let him continue exploring.

Luckily, a medic - the same man as usual - had the best timing imaginable and just entered the room.

"Oh, I was right, you are back with us!"

"You've expected him to wake up?"

"Not exactly," the man smiled tightly. "My range is on the poor side, but I'm a sensor. Sort of runs in the family."

"Oh, okay."

Sakumo stepped away, letting the medic do whatever that needed to be doing, but stayed in range.

Wounded jonin were sometimes unpredictable, especially when there was a head injury involved.  
He tried very hard to stay in range just in case, while ignoring all the poking and prodding the medic needed to perform as much as it was possible in this situation.

Orochimaru wasn't exactly cooperating, but hadn't had the strength to do more than awkwardly tilt his head to the side, trying to get away from the penlight and whine painfully.

"Yeah, I know light sucks right now," the medic said, finally turning off his torture device.

Orochimaru dropped into the pillows, completely exhausted.

With his eye closed he looked like he felt asleep instantly. Or just fainted.

"Light hurts him?" Sakumo asked quietly.

"Have you ever had a really bad hangover? It's sort of like that, only worse, because, you know, an actual wound."

"Oh."

"I must say, he really lucked out with the Hokage pushing for a separate room for him," the medic continued. "Not sure how he would be able to handle other people."

"It's this bad?"

"Right now he's too exhausted to notice much, but once he gets some rest..." the medic winced with sympathy. "It might get worse before it gets better."

"Thank you, uh... I actually didn't catch your name."

"I didn't offer it," the medic grinned, clearly enjoying him squirming. "We're all here wearing the same face. Or something like that."

He rolled his eyes.

"Yamanaka Katsurou."

"...Katsurou? That's not a very..."

"Yamanaka kind of a name?" the man guessed. "My grandmother was a freshblood, so neither I or my mother look the part. Mom was overly ambitious with my name."

"That's... a lot to take in."

"Not like I'm sharing clan secrets," Katsurou shrugged. "Anyhow, I guess we're going to see each other fairly often? Since you already were sitting here for hours?"

"Yeah. Um, are you going to pull out, the, you know?" Sakumo asked, tapping the side of his face.

"Nah, it's gonna stay until I'm sure he's not gonna faint into his oatmeal. You know, we have to lower the death rate in the hospital somehow."

Sakumo winced.

"Oh. Uh. Right. Sorry," Katsurou grimaced. "I wasn't thinking, shit just slipped out."

"It's not your fault," Sakumo forced himself to smile.

 

xxx

 

Sakumo didn't bother to go to sleep.  
He was rarely getting a full night of rest anyway and Kakashi needed to have things to eat.  
Surely, his new sensei - wasn't it one of Jiraiya's kids? - would make sure that the poor boy didn't starve, but forcing down all of the parental work on a stranger felt wrong.

So he spend the night filling up the fridge with stuff easy to simply grab and eat.  
Onigiri, both with fish and our plums, cooked vegetables, a pot of miso soup separated into several cups and so on - anything he could prepare while staying relatively quiet so the boy could properly rest.

Then it was morning and he entered the Hospital again, not bothering with the main entrance but jumping right to the window he was sitting by yesterday.  
It wasn't far to Orochimaru's room from there.

Sakumo wasn't expecting anyone to be in there - well, with an exception of maybe Katsurou and because of that he almost walked right into the Hokage.  
The man was standing over the bed and Orochimaru was doing his best at ignoring him.  
Which pretty much equaled to him using air to cover his face and lying motionless.

Sakumo made a step back.  
While the scene was hilarious, it was also a private conversation and he had no business listening on it.

"Ah, Hatake!"

The Hokage turned towards him.

"I'm sorry!" he said quickly. He should've known better than trying to leave unnoticed. "I didn't want to interrupt anything!"

"Oh, It looks like there's nothing to interrupt anyway," the Hokage took a glance at Orochimaru and sighed heavily. "I honestly have no idea why he's like that."

"They medic, uh, Yamanaka Katsurou? He told me yesterday Orochimaru can suffer from nasty migraines."

Sakumo honestly couldn't imagine another reason for ignoring the Hokage.

The man shook his head.

"Looks like I'm hurting my students even when I'm just trying to help."

Sakumo opened his mouth to protest.

"Are you going to stay with him?"

"I... that was why I came here."

"Good," the Hokage nodded. "Maybe you'll have a better luck."

"Luck, my lord?"

He didn't get an answer to his question; the Hokage disappeared, leaving Sakumo in an awkward silence.  

He waited for a moment, giving Orochimaru a chance to tell him to go away and leave him alone.  
No words came; just the sound of breathing. And some awkward small puffs.

Right. Orochimaru still had hair in his face and since he was breathing through the mouth it probably got  very uncomfortable.  
Sakumo reached out and tenderly brushed the hair aside, saving the man from accidentally swallowing it.

Orochimaru sighed with relief.

"That probably wasn't the smartest way of ignoring people," Sakumo quietly pointed out. "My son usually fake being asleep when he doesn't want to talk to me."

Either that or leaving the house early in the morning and returning only after it was dark outside.  
He was doing a lot of ignoring him lately.

"May I ask why you don't want to talk to the Hokage?" Sakumo asked, sitting on the floor by the bed.

Hovering over Orochimaru didn't seem like a thing he should do and he didn't want to make any noise moving around a chair.  

"What for?" Orochimaru mumbled. His voice was barely audible and nasal but it was still more than Lord Third managed to achieve.

"I mean, he's the Hokage."

 "'s not going to solve anything."

"Not solving things is the opposite of his job description," Sakumo pointed out.

"'s poor at it."

"...and now let's act like you didn't say that," Sakumo winced slightly.

Badmouthing the Hokage wasn't technically forbidden or even punishable, but right now it wasn't the best moment for the critique, with the war starting and everything else going on. "We'll gonna sweep it under the rug, alright?"

"It's always ends up like that," Orochimaru muttered. "With sweeping."

Sakumo decided to stay silent.  
He didn't know how aware Orochimaru was of the things he was saying and it sounded dangerously like he was about to drop some secrets right in Sakumo's lap.

And while they both were Jonin, Sakumo was sure that Orochimaru as the student of the Hokage was privy to the information that wasn't usually available to just everyone of the same rank.  
Better safe than sorry, he already fucked up enough things already.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the reviews and kudo's and stuff! I'm amazed how well received this story is!
> 
> By all means, Orochimaru should be dead, but ninja world. And at this point he probably already upgrades a thing or two because being sturdy is a really good thing in a ninja career.

**Author's Note:**

> Frying pan, the deadliest weapon of them all.  
> No beta, we just cry.  
> Rating might go up, tags might multiply.


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